MAC unveils historic photo collection

The nondescript box sat in what’s called the photo room at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture for more than 20 years.

Three words written on the outside of the box drew Jane Davey to it: “Libby albums” and “unprocessed.”

As an archives assistant at the MAC, Davey is charged with cataloging items donated to or purchased by the museum that have yet to be sorted, identified and described in an official way. Sometimes it takes years for the small staff to process artifacts because of the enormous quantity of work yet to be done.

Davey suspects that the box labeled with the name “Libby,” the prolific photography studio that’s responsible for 150,000 of the museum’s 250,000 pictures depicting Inland Northwest history, was neglected because it contained albums rather than loose prints or negatives.

“It’s unusual for a photographer to put stuff into albums,” she says. “Why that was done, I don’t know.”

Inside those delicate albums, their pages brittle from time, are photographs that the museum believes today’s public has never seen.

Photos of the top of Doomsday Hill when a lone house sat where hundreds of homes exist now.

Photos of the official opening of the Davenport Hotel.

Photos of Louis Davenport’s private South Hill gardens and of his apartment above the restaurant that preceded his grand hotel — including a peek at what the museum staff presumes was his personal bathroom.

“It’s very Pottery Barn,” jokes Rose Krause, the museum’s curator of special collections, as she presents the 1908 photo of Davenport’s loo.

It is indeed. White hexagonal tiles cover the floor and subway tiles line the walls. A pedestal sink sits under a wall-mounted mirror. The fixtures are chrome. An empty basket sits nearby, presumably to hold towels.

Krause calls a photo of the Davenport Hotel’s grand opening “the big find” among the new pictures.

The shot is dated Sept. 17, 1914, and shows a large crowd of dignitaries surrounding a banner that reads “Good luck and good cheer to all who enter here.”

Davenport history buffs will note that the hotel actually opened a month earlier, but this was the official celebration attended by the governors of Washington, Idaho and Montana and by the oft-photographed Miss Spokane, Marguerite Motie.

Spokane authors Tony and Suzanne Bamonte detailed with words the grand opening scene in their book “Spokane’s Legendary Davenport Hotel,” down to crystal replicas of the hotel draped with American flags that were presented during the ceremony. Tony Bamonte says he based his description on newspaper accounts from the time, having never seen a photograph of the event.

That is, until Krause and Davey recently invited Bamonte to see the photograph they found.

“It was very exciting to see,” Bamonte says. “It’s an extremely historic photo.”

Bamonte plans to include the photo in the next update of his book.

Not all the photos in the albums are new to the museum. And several of the shots are of previously documented places, but taken from angles the museum hasn’t seen before.

This includes some 1911 images of Louis Davenport’s gardens, which were designed by the legendary Olmsted brothers.

The gardens surrounded his home on Eighth Avenue, which was demolished in 1967 to make way for Sacred Heart Medical Center. The photos show that there were plateau-like areas carved into the hillside, as well as winding trails.

“You can see the photographer’s shadow there,” Davey says, pointing at an image. “I just love when you can see stuff like that.”

Photos also have been seen before of an 1872 house on the Pettit estate in West Central Spokane. The house is believed to be the oldest still-standing house in Spokane.

A newfound shot of the house and surrounding land, though, exemplifies the artistic eye of photographer Charles A. Libby, who started his business in 1898 and later passed it on to his son.

“They’re documentary, but they’re artistic, too,” Krause says of the senior Libby’s photos.

Also discovered are some hand-tinted photographs taken of the Stratton family’s home and gardens, located on the 3600 block of East Hartson Avenue, in 1933. After the photos were printed, each flower in the garden and even the bark on the trees was hand painted.

Krause encourages the public to visit the Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives at the museum to see the photos in person.

No appointment is necessary. Just arrive between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and ask a staff member to retrieve the albums. While perusing through the photos, visitors will be required to wear a pair of the museum’s white gloves to protect the images.

“Our hope is that this is an accessible place,” Krause says. “But then there’s the white-glove side. There’s a constant balance between access and preservation.”